Thread: Followed Me Home II

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I wish I had seen this trick before I did my column. It looks great, Roger. Simple but effective.

The column in my '32 put up a fight; everyone can read about it on my build thread. I have attached a pic below. I also included a pic of the one on my Model-A. Only the shaft comes through the firewall, so I used an escutcheon I found in the plumbing department at Lowes.

Picked up a sheet of 1/2" plywood to make a bulkhead to separate the trunk from the interior area. The cardboard pattern quickly told me that it had to be in two pieces.
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I decided to put a lap joint in the middle, thinking that I'd glue it in place but then realized that my lifting beam rides on that steel at the top of the body, so it really needs to be removable, at least for now, so I drilled & tapped some 1/4-20 holes and bolted it in place. That wooden battery was made long ago when I was trying to decide where it would land, but the real one is going to sit right there. Talking with Jim Robinson, the fuse block is likely going to be on the other side of the plywood panel, tucked behind the passenger seat. I've only got four or five circuits with a fair weather roadster. and once it's wired the only time the block gets attention is trying to trouble shoot a short. Seems like a good spot, at least for now.
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ShowMe puts in this nifty trunk release tucked up behind the dash on the driver's side with the cable running back to a VW style latch.
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While I was test fitting the drivers side panel I kept having to move this big loop of cable that was right behind the door, laying against the body and it made me wonder why it was there? Then I realized it was going to be like the Coke bottle hung from a string inside the Cadillac door - always rattling against the body and being an irritation. Probably wouldn't hear it in a roadster, but it was only there because it was easier to not cut the cable! Of course the latch had to come out to be able to get to the cable end, but it's now 3' shorter and lays flat on the floor.
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When I brought the body home one of the first things I noticed was that ShowMe had welded a pair of braces to the horizontal steel, right behind the top of the seats, running back then angled down to a pad that the rear body bolt passed through. My '33, from N&N had nothing like that and the more I looked the more I decided that brace was going to cause any rear impact to crush into the interior, leveraging the seat back (and me!) forward and down. I cut the braces out, and had formed a pair of 3/16"x1" flat steel to follow the floor, and today I drilled them, glued them to the body with Liquid Nails, and bolted them back into place to dry. They tie the two body bolts together, sandwiching the body to the frame, so for the body to come off it has to rip out the whole floor. Not that it won't happen, but I like that idea better than a plug the size of a fender washer and it kind of forms a "crumple zone", if fiberglass crumpled...
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Next is to pull the seats, unhook the steering column u-joint, remove the dash and unbolt the body to see the top of the chassis for the first time in 4 years I hauled this stuff home in March 2014, did a little that summer and a little more the next like swapping out the TH350 for a 700R4 (this one's an automatic because my wife wouldn't even TRY to drive the coupe), swapping out the rear gears to better fit the OD, adding a True-Trac, and painting the diff & rear swing arms. Spring 2016 was to be the time to get it done..... and then the nagging pain that my wife had kept to herself turned into cancer, inoperable and the size of a youth football, grown free form surrounding her gastric artery and now pressing on major organs, thus the pain. We chased treatments for a year, but lost her in May 2017 and the desire to "build" has been slow to rekindle, no excuses. Maybe 2020! Staying isolated may be an advantage!

Really sad to lose a loved one, but our memories keep them with us forever. Nice work as always my friend!

Had other things to do around the place yesterday, and this morning spent too long fretting about the battery mount before just making a pattern, cutting out a pair of 1/2" ply supports and a shelf and hooking them together.
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If you look at Jim's pictures of his support compared to mine it shows the difference between the way BeBop forms their floor compared to ShowMe! The ShowMe floor has more curve for some reason. I like Jim's bondo glue idea, and have used it before but I went with Titebond III and some staples for wood to wood.
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I set it in place, started to grab the bondo can and remembered that the bulkhead needs to come out to remove the body, so it stays loose for now....
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Another guy who used to post here a lot always puts a shelf on the interior side of the firewall as a catchall (I think he mentioned it was a good place for his cigarettes and lighter). Carpeted, it's out of the breeze so things don't tend to blow away. Sounded like a good idea so I whipped out a shelf using a piece of Cedar siding I had laying around. It's 30" wide an 5" deep with a rim to keep things from sliding off. Carpeted it disappears.
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After I got it made I started to mount it and I'm not sure about it now. Mounted high it's out of sight, but being out of sight I'm not sure how much value it adds. I'd be reaching blind for the shelf, and just not sure about it. I haven't smoked for 44 years, so I don't need a place for cigarettes.... So for now it's set aside.

The shelf made me realize I've been looking for reasons to NOT pull the body, so late in the day I started at the front, loosened the support rods and rocked the radiator forward to release the hood; then pulled the grill shell & radiator; pulled the seats.... and ran out of steam!
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With the seats out here's a different look at the battery support. Got an idea for a battery box that might be cool, but we'll see how it works before saying it's cool.
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Here's a better look at the battery shelf!
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Tomorrow I'll pull the steering column and lift the body, hoping it fits the dolly I modified so long ago! Fingers crossed!

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It's always fun to rework the wood dolly with the body hanging in the air, right? It's apart, stable and ready.

I've been working on the exhaust using 2.5" steel and Summit's house Cherry Bomb's. I ordered a "Universal Kit" with 4 each of U bend, 45's, 90's and straight 4' long. So far I've cut about 8" off of one of the straight pipes, and the rest has been cutting up bends! I may be ordering a few more bends to get from the mufflers out the back! It's a tortuous path running big pipe on a small chassis! Sure is easy to burn through 18 gauge exhaust tube!
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Both sides cheat in kind of close to the transmission, but I can easily add a heat shield if it proves to be a problem. I think it's going to be fine.
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After I redid my steering column drop I bolted the dash back in place and thankfully before cutting holes I determined that using the billet gauge cluster that I had, putting the tach and speedo centered above the steering wheel wasn't going to work. The steel for the drop sits too high, cheating into the space behind the dash where the gauges would be, so had to look for another approach. Today the BBT dropped this one, putting the big gauges center dash, smaller to the sides which will work fine. Done! One billet aluminum(Dolphin?) gauge cluster added to the spare parts pile.
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Gonna finish the exhaust from mufflers back, then run the fuel line and drill the frame to mount the gas tank. Having the tank hanging in back may not be the best from a safety standpoint, but I like the old school look, and it's a heavy poly tank as opposed to stamped steel, which I believe helps. Anyway, I'm enjoying the build again. Thanks for checking in.

I like the dash now!

I like that bezel, too. Why are you ditching the Dolphin gauges? Don't they fit this bezel?

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

I like that bezel, too. Why are you ditching the Dolphin gauges? Don't they fit this bezel?

Looking at options I thought that the one I had, two large openings with four out to the right was made by Dolphin, but now I see it at Speedway listed as "Universal". My gauges are VDO, and yes they fit the new wing bezel.

Ah! OK, I understand now. I thought you were pitching the gauges out, but you were referring to the other bezel. VDO gauges are good stuff!

Since we brought them up, in case anyone wonders - I used Dolphin gauges in my Track-T roadster and they were really nice; black face with curved glass like old Stewart Warner's. I had a problem programming on the digital speedo (user error), so I called them and they walked me through it. Really nice helpful people.

My day started with rain so hard it was deafening in the barn, trying to position the tail pipes and continuing to run into the clamps holding the gas tank in place so I opted to get the frame drilled to get the tank bolted in place. That ended up being a trip to the hardware store for bolts, and of course the 2" chrome button head bolts I brought home needed to be 2.5".... As Jim said, warts and all.

I'd ordered a small dash mount billet aluminum mirror, and popped it out of the box to discover that the extreme slant of the Rodwell windshield leaves zero room for it.... another wart, and another part for the spare parts shelf - arrgh! Did get the tank in place, so a step forward. Tomorrow's another day.

So what I'm reading is no matter how many builds you do, a guy still buys parts that end up under the bench ? Crap!! Lol

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

So what I'm reading is no matter how many builds you do, a guy still buys parts that end up under the bench ? Crap!! Lol

Under the bench, in the cabinets, out in the shed, in the spare bedroom and up in the attic....

...or used on the next build, or given to a friend, or sold at the next swap meet for 20% of what you paid for it originally.

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

... or sold at the next swap meet for 20% of what you paid for it originally.

IF you're lucky! 8-)